General Studies of Church Fathers (21)

A collection of articles covering the thought and teaching of the Church Fathers,
on Tradition and Worship with essays on Eusebius, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom,
Dionysius the Areopagite, Photios, and St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite.

Metropolitan Emilianos Timiadis, inspired by a statement of St. Gregory the
Wonder-worker (213-270), rightly views the purpose of the service rendered by
the Church Fathers to humanity in the following words: to communicate
the saving truths of the Christian faith, to make them accessible and understandable
in order that people may come nearer to God. This, the Metropolitan believes,
implies a mutual sharing of the Holy Spirit by the believers and clergy, as
well as the speaker and the listener. He moreover, see the Church Fathers as
pastors of souls, guides, interpreters, and messengers of God`s will, and therefore
necessary spiritual guides for all people.

The quest for a harmonious relationship between humanity and the environment quickens as ecological problems escalate in our modern world. Irresponsible use of the environment has caused pollution, diminished natural resources, accumulation of radioactive waster, disease, famine, and abnormal climatic conditions. In response to the myriad solutions offered by the scientific community, Anestis G. Keselopoulos proposes another dimension, a theological solution put forth ten centuries ago by the Byzantine mystic St Symeon the New Theologian.

Beginning to Read the Fathers is an introduction to the Church`s earliest writers, preachers and theologians. It presupposes no more knowledge on the part of the reader than that the Fathers existed and that their ideas might be important and perhaps even interesting. The book does not restrict itself to such topics as Christology and ecclesiology but includes other areas, like martyrdom and prayer, which were highly important in shaping the mind and heart of the early Church.

In his missionary journeys, St. Paul spoke in a number of cities in the Greek peninsula including Athens, renowned for its philosophical heritage. He addressed to them the message of the One, Unknown God (Acts 17:22ff). Among those present in the Areopagus (the open city center of Athens) on that day was a certain Denys (Dionysios) who eventually became a disciple of Paul.

The Byzantine Saint is one of the most important contributions to the field of Byzantine hagiography in recent years. St Vladimir`s Seminary Press is please to present the collection, based on papers presented by a preeminent group of scholars at a Byzantine studies conference at the University of Birmingham.

What is Orthodoxy? Is it a religion? What is the essence of Orthodox Tradition? What is theosis? What are the "two kinds of faith" and "two kinds of revelation"? Who is God-inspired and who is a theologian? Who is spiritually ill and who is healthy? What is "noetic prayer"? What is the difference between orthodoxy and heresy? What is the essence of god and what are His energies?

Composing a handbook on the spiritual life is not altogether different
from writing a work of art, music, or painting. A real manual must not start
from a rigid framework or pretend that the rules it proposes are complete, infallible,
and always and everywhere valid. Yet such rules, precisely because
they are rules, are usually the result of a long experience lived first by those
who had a sense of the beautiful and then by larger groups and circles. In this
manner the original experiences evolve into a tradition. from
the Introduction

The late Professor Panagiotes K. Chrestou of Aristotle University of Thessalonica, Greece, is justly regarded as the leading Greek Patrologist of the twentieth century. The present volume is a foretaste of Professor Chrestou`s Greek Patrology. Its great value will be realized by anyone who decides to delve into these pages. It provides a bird`s eye view of Greek Orthodox Patrology, and elucidates in a thorough and succinct way such basic topics as: who the Fathers are; the historical context of patristic literature; the nature and characteristics of Greek patristic literature; and the seven major periods of patristic literature from AD 90 through 1453, the capture of Constantinople.

This unique workno other work yet available in English treats this subjectillustrates
the contribution of these Councils in the development and formulation of Christian
beliefs. It then shows how their legacies lingered throughout the centuries
to inspireevery generation.